“ISN’T it too early to go home?” Michael asked Mandy as he walked her towards the school gate. “Aren’t you going to attend your last subject?”

Mandy didn’t answer him. As soon as she stepped out from the school grounds, she waved at him. “Thanks, Michael. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She heard him called her name as she walked away, but Mandy ignored him. When she had taken several steps away from her university, she looked back and heaved a sigh. Michael wasn’t at the gate anymore. He didn’t even wait for her to walk out the gate of Intramuros.

Her school, Bonton University, is popular among the other colleges and universities located inside Intramuros’ historical place, not just because of its pretty and good-looking students but also because of mostly female students’ dark stories. There was a rumor that a student from the Tourism department was seen dancing with older men in clubs. While naked photos of some beautiful female students were caught in a pornographic site. Some say that they're doing it in exchange of money to pay their tuition, and according to other people, it was their job even from the first place. Mandy didn’t know if those stories were real or just a product of some insecure student’s mind enrolled in a low-level university. Whatever the truth is, Mandy doesn’t care as long as it won’t bother her quiet life as a fangirl and a student.

Intramuros’ streets were quiet during the afternoon, and Mandy can freely take some selfies on the hundred-year-old brick walls that have witnessed the Philippines’ classical era. Where women wore Filipiniana and men in Barong, a national suit that is made of pineapple fibers.

“I can walk here forever—” She suddenly stopped taking selfies when she noticed somebody is watching her from the corner of Victoria’s street, beside the Manila Bulletin Press. “Wait a second…”

Mandy narrowed her eyes as she tried to figure out who is that man. And, there, she realized that he was also the same man that she saw standing on their school gate while she’s speaking to Cecile. Now, she’s sure that he was her new neighbor. But as she was about to walk towards him, he turned his back at started walking away.

“Wait, Mister!” Mandy called to him, but he didn’t look back. “Hey!”

She doubled her steps and followed him, but when she turned by the corner where she saw him passed, the man was gone and nowhere in sight. Mandy looked around, catching her breath from running.

“Where did he go?” she asked, panting. “And, why he’s here? Is he stalking me?”

Mandy decided to go home before the end of the subject that she did not attend. She doesn’t want to see Sherry and Jennie, or even Michael. Those people gave her false hopes, and they’re not worth her time. She sighed at the thought of shutting Sherry and Jennie out of her life. It still hurt to think that they’re changing their treatment towards her, yet she doesn’t know why.

Mandy plopped down on her couch, grabbed the TV controller, and open it to the music channel. She almost squealed in excitement when she saw Sproutoon on the stage. She didn’t bother to change her school uniform or even turn on the lights on her house. Mandy was preoccupied with Elias, who was now speaking on the screen.

“Elias, my love…” Mandy murmured, then she remembered Michael and her sudden feelings for him. She quickly ditched it off when she also recalled what he told her. “Only Elias deserved my love. No one but Elias—”

Mandy caught a shadow passed by her window. She thought that it might be her new neighbor, so she went to her door quickly and opened it. But she saw no one outside.

“Where is he?” she asked while looking at the door of the room beside hers. “I saw his shadow passed by—”

“You’re looking for who?”

Mandy jumped in surprise. She turned around and got face to face with the most beautiful man she has ever seen in her entire existence. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

The man’s thick brows furrowed as he stared at her. “Excuse me, are you okay?”

Mandy wanted to melt in front of him. His deep and sexy voice penetrated her skin down to her core. “N-No…” she finally said. “I-I mean, yes! Yes, I’m okay. How about you?”

The man studied her for a while, then a smile formed in his kissable lips. “You must be Mandy?”

“Huh?” Mandy didn’t expect that this man knew her name. “How did you know?” Then she remembered the man she saw outside her university. “Oh! Are you also the man that I saw in Intramuros a while ago?” she asked, hoping that he won’t get offended.

“Intramuros?” He knotted his forehead. “I haven’t been there since I moved here.”

“Oh…” Mandy nodded. “Maybe it’s a different person…” she said, looking away. “Then how come that you knew my name?”

He smiled again, and Mandy wondered if he ever got endorsement offers from a toothpaste brand. “Our landlady told me that there’s a girl living in the room next to mine.”

Mandy instantly blushed at the thought that this good-looking guy might think that she’s assuming things towards him. “I see…” she said, then turned to her door. “Nice meeting you—”

“Pocholo,” the man said and offered his hand at her. “My name’s Pocholo.”

Mandy quickly held his hand and shook. The moment that their hands touched, Mandy felt statics formed between their skin. From the Kdrama series that she has watched repeatedly, that feeling after having physical contact with the opposite sex meant…

“I think I’ll be liking you,” Pocholo suddenly said, he’s slightly squeezing her hand.

Mandy’s heart almost leaped out from her ribcage. For the first time, she heard those words being told to her by somebody. And, this man in front of him wasn’t just a somebody, he’s the gorgeous somebody she has ever met.

Before Mandy could melt in front of Pocholo, she pulled her hand back from him and held her door handle. “Nice to meet you, Pocholo.”

He smiled at her again. “Same here, Mandy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Mandy nodded and quickly got back inside her room. Her heartbeat is still racing when she jumped back to the couch and hugged her Elias bolster pillow.

“Omg. What kind of sorcery is this?” she said and silently squealed.

***